Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - DRAM, NAND to Reach Records in 2022, Up 25% and 24%, Respectively

LYON, FRANCE – DRAM is expected to grow to $118 billion, up 25% in 2022, according to Yole Développement. NAND flash memory will reach $83 billion, up 24%. Both are records.

The standalone memory market will continue expanding, with a CAGR during 2021-2027 of 8%, and is poised to grow to more than $260 billion in 2027. DRAM and NAND market revenues are expected to reach $158.5 billion and $96 billion in 2027, respectively.

“Amid trade-war tensions and the Covid-19 pandemic, the standalone memory market has been expanding throughout the last two years,” said Simone Bertolazzi, Ph.D., senior market and technology analyst, Memory, Yole. “Revenue was up 15% and 32% in 2020 and 2021, respectively. Such remarkable growth was made possible by a combination of constrained production and strong demand growth across most market segments.”

The NOR flash market has seen a strong resurgence in 2021, the research firm says. Revenue grew to $3.5 billion, up 43%. This is due to tight market conditions putting upward pressure on prices. Significant demand growth was driven by multiple applications, including consumer and the IoT, automotive, telecom and infrastructure.

In the DRAM business, a current consensus is planar scaling – even through lithography EUV processes – will not be sufficient to provide the required bit-density improvement for the next decade, says Yole. Hence, monolithic 3-D DRAM – the DRAM equivalent of 3-D NAND – is being considered by major equipment suppliers and leading DRAM manufacturers as a potential solution for long-term scaling. Yole’s analysts believe this novel 3-D technology could make its entry into the market in the 2029-2030 time frame.

High-end smartphones are equipped with LPDDR5 memory to support ultra-high-performance camera applications and AI, providing consumers with high-quality images and videos. LPDDR5 memories have increased transfer speed compared to the previous generation of low-power DRAM memory. LPDDR5 characteristics empower devices to match both consumer needs and technological innovations.